Rafael Benítez often seems conservative and even glum. Compliments are handed out so sparingly that the Liverpool manager must suppose they are a natural resource on the brink of exhaustion. Experience has deepened the wariness in his character and Benítez had been sacked twice by lower-division clubs in Spain before making his breakthrough.

Even then, Valencia had been spurned by other candidates before they arrived at his name well down the list. Adversity seems natural to Benítez. That is just as well, considering the circumstances Liverpool face tomorrow night. It would be an achievement to take a draw in Lyon, although such a result would probably still leave his side struggling to get out of Group E.

The immediate challenge is to keep some hope alive. Liverpool have prospered under Benítez in the Champions League precisely because of a survival instinct. He won the trophy at his first attempt with Liverpool, but it tends to be forgotten that there was a brush with elimination in the group stage of the 2004-05 campaign.

With 10 minutes to go at Anfield, Olympiakos were drawing 1-1 and on the verge of knocking out Benítez's side. Liverpool wriggled free with an 80th-minute goal from Neil Mellor before Steven Gerrard added another. It was the only time Mellor ever scored in European competition and his career total for the club was six.

Benítez, were he the romantic type, could invoke more recent exploits. Liverpool arrived at the Vélodrome for the last group fixture in December 2007 with just seven points but went through to the last 16 thanks to a 4-0 rout of Marseille. The line-up included not just Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, but also gifted creators such as Harry Kewell and Yossi Benayoun.

While the means are more restricted todaytomorrow, Benítez has often been at his best when eking out thin resources so the disadvantages in Lyon will not disconcert him. Memories of last month's match with Claude Puel's side at Anfield may even perk up the Spaniard, despite the fact that Liverpool were ultimately beaten 2-1.

Adversity had been extreme there, with Gerrard forced to go off in the 25th minute and Torres unable to take part at all but Martin Kelly had a laudable debut at right-back, Benayoun opened the scoring and there were chances to polish off Lyon before the visitors struck twice in the later stages.

Puel has unease of his own, judging by the accounts of indiscipline and bickering within the camp. In addition, Lisandro López, the apparent replacement for Karim Benzema, who moved on to Real Madrid in the summer, was ineffectual at Anfield and did not complete the game. Benítez will not be without hope this evening and the numerous blows he has taken have landed him in a situation to which he is well-adapted.

Ambition had been coercing the manager into a flamboyance that is not his natural state of mind. With Liverpool splitting champions Manchester United and Chelsea in the league last season, he had scant option but to take the next step and search for the expressiveness that might bring his side to the head of the table.

Circumstances mean that any such approach has to be suspended for the moment. Glen Johnson, the overlapping right-back, is not even with the party in Lyon and while the attacking midfielder Alberto Aquilani has travelled, he has so far been limited by injury to one outing of about a quarter of an hour at Arsenal.

Benítez is restricted to familiar faces and methods, but at least he is dealing with known quantities. While the vacancy at right-back is hard to fill, it would surely be folly to shunt Jamie Carragher into that area. The manager needed no reminder of the defender's particular expertise but the player was at the root of Liverpool's win against United 10 days ago.

Carragher thrives when blocking in or around the penalty box and there was pressure of that sort to be endured in the 2-0 victory. It was by far his best display of the campaign and it was no mystery that adversity should bring out the best in him. The centre-back becomes more uneasy the closer he gets to the halfway line.

He will not be particularly averse to siege defendingtomorrow night. The Liverpool side as a whole will have to be tight-knit. They achieved that in the defeat of United when, then as now, they had no Gerrard but could call on a semi-fit Torres. Lucas Leiva had an outstanding game that day and such less-celebrated footballers will have to come to the fore at the Stade Gerland. The encouragement of the Anfield stands may be absent this time, but the strategist Benítez will be gladdened by the knowledge that Lyon are scarcely so formidable as United.